[Vision2020] Newtown won't change Idaho's gun fixation

[Joe Campbell]

It occurs to me that my first response might be misunderstood. I intended
to be ironical. "Hysterical? Not!"

On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (December 19, 2012) Lewiston Tribune.
>
> -------------------------------------
> Newtown won't change Idaho's gun fixation
>
> *Marty Trillhaase *
>
> This time it's different.
>
> This time, the massacre of 20 first-graders, six of their teachers and the
> shooter's mother at Newtown, Conn., will break the national impasse on guns.
>
> Perhaps.
>
> But not here.
>
> Not in Idaho.
>
> What was the Gem State's reaction to the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings,
> which killed 32 and wounded 17? A legislative debate about whether to arm
> students at its public campuses.
>
> Four years later when Jared Lee Loughner shot Congresswoman Gabrielle
> Giffords and 18 more outside a Tucson, Ariz., area supermarket, killing six
> including a 9-year-old girl, Idaho quickly moved on.
>
> And last summer's mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.,
> killing 12 and injuring 58 others, faded into background noise.
>
> Did the killing of two and wounding of another at the Clackamas Town
> Center near Portland, Ore., get more than its 15 minutes of attention?
>
> Sure, this is about insanity and the consequences of inadequate mental
> health care or outright neglect.
>
> It's also about a culture enthralled with the spectacle of violence - the
> higher the body count, the bigger the box office.
>
> And no, you can not blame all guns. There are more than 300 million in the
> United States. You can't confiscate them, nor would you want to.
>
> But why can't you do something about assault rifles capable of firing a
> round per second?
>
> Or ammunition magazines carrying 30 rounds or more?
>
> Or at least the gun-show loophole where 40 percent of guns are bought and
> sold in the United States without a federal background check?
>
> You know why? You've heard these ritualistic responses from people who:
>
>    - Distort - What about the 32,000 automobile deaths every year? Why
>    not lower the speed limit to 15 mph?
>    - Delay - The tragedy is still fresh. This is no time to bring up gun
>    control laws. Wait a decent interval - until, of course, the political
>    pressure is off.
>    - Divert - That damned media is sensationalizing the story and
>    promoting an anti-gun agenda.
>    - Distract - If only the victims had been carrying concealed weapons,
>    they could have done more than crouch and pray.
>    - Demonize - President Barack Obama is capitalizing on the Sandy Hook
>    Elementary shooting spree to justify the gun control agenda he always
>    wanted.
>
> Sure, Idaho has its sensible middle, people who recognize that guns
> already are regulated in the U.S. You can't own an automatic weapon. You
> can't fire a gun across a highway or in public. Why is reauthorizing the
> Brady law considered such a radical step?
>
> But is this swath of reasonable Idahoans a continent or an island? All you
> hear are the loud and angry voices who consider every conversation about
> gun laws an assault upon the sacred American way of life.
>
> Even if this sensible middle were to carry the day, it would be pointless.
> Idaho's political culture is wedded to the National Rifle Association. Few
> politicians outside the Democratic enclaves of Boise's North End or Blaine
> County dare stand up to the NRA.
>
> For an Idaho Republican to do so invites a primary challenge from the
> right.
>
> Some will lead on this issue. Some will follow. But here's an educated
> guess: Idaho's political leaders will resist, frustrate and impede any
> effort, in fact any dialog, on toughening gun laws. For doing so, they'll
> draw applause, votes and accolades at home.
>
> So Idaho extends her prayers to the grieving families of Newtown.
>
> And not much else. - M.T.
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares"
> http://www.MoscowCares.com
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
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